


Light My Fire

by SloanGreyMercyDeath



Series: December 2020 [5]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/F, some cute flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 07:21:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28347567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SloanGreyMercyDeath/pseuds/SloanGreyMercyDeath
Summary: Day 5: cosy fireplace
Relationships: Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss
Series: December 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2036989
Comments: 1
Kudos: 45





	Light My Fire

“Alright,” JJ sighed, sitting down on the floor beside Emily and Henry, “I’ve brought the last of it.”

Her arms were loaded with supplies and Emily quickly helped her put it all down without throwing it into the fire. They’d decided to spend their day in front of the fire, avoiding the freezing cold snow outside. It was a wonderful, December day, and they had all the curtains thrown open, but they had no desire to actually go outside.

“Just in time for Tummy Time,” Emily told her cheerfully, taking five Jiffy Pops from her. “Henry won’t know what hit him.”

JJ grinned as she set down a stack of hershey’s chocolate bars and graham crackers. She’d already brought over way too many marshmallows, apples wrapped in tin foil, and three thermoses of Mulled Wine. Logically, she knew that they could just go to the kitchen and get more supplies, but she liked the idea of leaning into the camping vibes pretending like nothing existed unless it was on the rug in front of the fire.

“What do you want first?” she asked Emily, who had put the Jiffy Pops down and turned her attention to Henry. “I’ll go ahead and put the apples on now..”

Emily laid down next to Henry, waving a finger in his face to keep him on his stomach. “Babe, I love you, but I’m almost 50. I can’t eat all of this anymore.”

Furrowing her brow, JJ picked up two apples and set them into the fire. “It’s Christmas, Emily. We don’t have to go  _ crazy _ , but we  _ do  _ have to have fun.”

“Okay, but I can’t promise more than...10 s’mores.”

The women laughed, prompting Henry to giggle, too. Emily tugged the blanket he was laying on, moving him further away from the fire, and gave him one of his favorite crinkly books. He immediately started playing it with, tiny feet kicking behind him, hands smacking the fabric pages.

“Yeah,” Emily said seriously, pointing at a fuzzy llama on one page, “your Mama can’t eat like a teenager anymore, can she?”

JJ snorted before cupping an ear leaning down to Henry. “What’s that? If your Mama started exercising more, she probably could?”

“Oh, shut up,” Emily laughed, reaching over the baby to smack her wife’s arm. “The day I become a jogger is the day I’m no longer myself.”

“We’ll see about that,” JJ answered ominously. She raised an eyebrow, but the smile twitching on her lips gave her away. “Alright, enough of this. You want a s’more?”

“Yes!”

JJ began sticking marshmallows onto their sticks as Emily focused on Henry. It didn’t take them long to make their s’mores and eat so much their stomachs started to hurt. Henry was shifted eventually so he could sit between JJ’s legs and lean back against her. He was more excited than they’d ever seen him, attention clicking between Emily, JJ, and the calm fire. They’d fed him dinner already and it was almost bedtime for him.

Emily just sat beside her favorite blondes, captivated by the way the firelight made their golden skin glow and blonde hair gleam. She was sure she looked like a ghost, but she was too in love with the people near her to even think about hating herself. It was a little bit overwhelming, but she wouldn’t give them up for anything.

The years she’d spent living in her self-loathing felt wasted now. At the time, it’d felt safe, like she wouldn’t get hurt if she just didn’t feel anything, but JJ had burst her walls wide open and now, all these years later, Emily couldn’t even begin to imagine locking herself away again. It was terrifying (especially when she’d cried at the airport after Derek and Savanna left), but the mortifying ordeal of being known had given her the best life possible.

“What is it?” JJ said quietly. Emily met her eyes. “What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?”

“I love you,” Emily answered simply, smiling. “And Henry. You guys are the best things that have ever happened to me.”

JJ’s heart clenched at the sincerity in Emily’s voice. She knew how much Emily had struggled to open up to her, and she knew how hard it had been to let herself be happy. JJ had had to deal with her own issues, too. 

It had taken every ounce of strength and determination she had not to run screaming for the hills. Her instincts had told her that Emily was dangerous, that being vulnerable was dangerous, that committing herself to a relationship would only end in heartbreak for both of them. It never happened, though. Maybe they came close with Doyle and Askari, but they’d made it. They would keep making it.

“I love you, too.” Henry grabbed her finger and JJ smiled down at him. “Is it bedtime, baby? Let’s go.”

“I’ll come with you.”

Emily climbed to her feet, reaching down for their son. JJ handed him up and stood, groaning as her knees protested. She’d teased Emily about her age, but neither of them were young anymore. Ignoring Emily’s smug look, JJ rolled her eyes and started for the stairs.

They’d come back down and clean up, but, for now, they just took Henry up to his bedroom. JJ changed his diaper, while Emily picked up the books scattered around the room. Their nightly ritual was so familiar that they could work without speaking, the only sounds Henry’s happy babbling and JJ’s low voice talking to him.

She would never admit it outloud, but it surprised her just how much she loved Henry. All through her pregnancy, she worried that she wouldn’t love him as much as she loved Emily. It seemed impossible, especially because of how much work she’d had to do to love Emily in the first place.

Her doubt disappeared once she’d held him. He may look like her, but he was so much like Emily already. When he wasn’t babbling happily, he was looking around with sharp eyes, examining his surroundings and silently soaking it all in. Sometimes, both Henry and Emily looked at her at once and JJ lost her breath.

“Ok, Henry,” she breathed, putting him into his swaddled and wrapping him up. “Let’s get this little burrito into the oven, huh?”

Emily was grinning when JJ glanced at her, leaning on the crib. “He’s already toasty from the fire. I’m sure he’ll be cooked in no time.”

“I regret the metaphor.”

She kissed Emily when she reached the crib before laying Henry down inside. Their boy blinked up at them with wide blue eyes and JJ felt an arm wrap around her waist. She looked at Emily.

“Ready for clean up?” she asked her wife.

Emily raised an eyebrow, giving JJ a sultry smile. “What do you say we try for another one?”

“What?” JJ asked, frowning. “You want another baby?”

Rolling her eyes, Emily started leading JJ out of the room, snatching the baby monitor off a dresser. “I’m not suggesting we have another kid,” she said slowly, pushing JJ out into the hallway and closing the door behind them. “I’m suggesting we  _ try for another _ .”

JJ watched her wiggle her eyebrows for a moment. With a gasp, she suddenly caught on to what Emily was suggesting. “Ooh.” She stepped closer and tugged at the bottom of Emily’s shirt. “I see… Well, we  _ are  _ already upstairs…”

“Exactly,” Emily crooned, grasping her waist and walking her backward. “I can clean up later, put out the fire, all of that. But right now?”

“Yes, Emily?”

“Right now… I think we should celebrate December 5th in style.”

JJ bit her lip to keep herself from laughing too loudly and disturbing Henry. “I guess that’s as good a reason as any. Are we going to do it five times, just to drive the point home?”

Kissing her deeply, Emily grinned against her mouth. “Oh, I’ll drive  _ something _ home.”


End file.
